Saturday, October 10, 2015

Interesting new study on professionalism

Ethical Systems.org is reporting on a new paper on Professionalism and Moral Behavior which tests the hypothesis that individuals in traditional occupations that strongly identify as professionals (e.g., law, medicine) have a greater likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior. This is an important inquiry in light of ethical failures in companies where lawyers and accountants often act as “gatekeepers” on ethics and compliance issues vis a vis corporate practices. Examples of incidents in these types of companies abound, with automakers and financial companies featuring prominently on the list. Go here for more information and links.

On a related matter, here is a comment on the ethical culture that allows conduct as the one recently discovered Volkswagen perpetrated to deceive consumers and authorities.